Wow! 11-Year-Old Cheetah Breaks Land Speed Record

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The fastest cheetah on Earth has done it again, breaking her
previous world record for the 100-meter dash and setting a new
best time of 5.95 seconds.

This feat surpasses the fastest of all human 100-meter sprinters
by almost four seconds.
Usain Bolt, a Jamaican sprinter now competing at the 2012
London Olympics, holds the human world record at 9.58 seconds in
the 100-meter dash.

Cheetahs, of course, are built to run faster than humans,
regularly clocking speeds of up to around 60 miles per hour (96.5
kilometers per hour). During a photo shoot with National
Geographic Magazine, a cheetah from the Cincinnati Zoo named Sarah
covered 100 meters at 61 mph (98 kph).

The sprint broke Sarah's previous world record, set in 2009 when
she ran the same distance in 6.13 seconds. That sprint broke the
previous record set in 2001, when a male South African cheetah
named Nyana ran 100 meters in 6.19 seconds. [ See
Photos of Sarah the Cheetah ]

Sarah is 11 years old and is part of the zoo's Cat Ambassador
Program. Her sprint was documented with funding from the National
Geographic's cat conservation effort the Big Cats Initiative.

The record-breaking run took place on a course designed by the
Road Running Technical Council of USA Track & Field. Sarah
chased a fluffy toy lure around the course, breaking the record
on her very first run.

The secret to cheetah speed is in its long, flexible spine, which
allows the animal to cover up to 22 feet (6.7 meters) on every
stride. Cheetahs also
vary their strides per second as they speed up, taking more
strides per second as they run faster. That seems to be a special
talent, researchers reported in June in the Journal of
Experimental Biology. Other speedy creatures such as greyhounds
keep a steady number of strides per second no matter how fast
they run.